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Paul Weller In Newcastle - Gig Review

Paul Weller, Metro Radio Arena

Nov 17 2008 by Lori Reid, The Journal

YOU have to hand it to Paul Weller, after being in the business for all these years, the man can still put on one heck of a show.

With new album 22 Dreams and a back catalogue spanning 30 years, Weller had an awful lot to fit into Saturday’s amazing two-hour set.

The former Jam frontman was full of energy, strutting across the stage and stamping along to the beat.

Cherry-picking classics from his Style Council days such as Shout To The Top sent the crowd into a frenzy. But it was Jam numbers that brought the house down. Eton Riffles sent the audience wild and a full-scale sing-a-long was in motion. That’s Entertainment was another highlight.

New songs Sea Spray, Push It Along and Invisible were well received and sat easily alongside his solo hits Broken Stones, Wild Wood and Changing Man.

At the penultimate song, a big screen showing harrowing footage of 9/11, then more generalised images of war, loomed over audience.

His message became more apparent when footage of peace figures such as Ghandi, John F Kennedy and John Lennon flashed up alongside their wise words of peace.

When the footage was over, Weller launched into a beautiful version of the Beatles classic All You Need Is Love.

Bidding the crowd goodnight and thanking them for being a lovely audience, Weller humbly left the stage, only to return and blast into a jaw dropping rendition of A Town Called Malice.

The crowd love it and everybody left on a high. Now that’s entertainment.

From The Journal Live

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Album Preview: Paul Weller Recruits Noel Gallagher, Thunderstorms to Share His “22 Dreams” “You get to this stage in life where you say ‘I’ve done everything that I can do,’” says Paul Weller. As he passes the half-century mark, Weller easily could have returned to his old stomping grounds, whether it was the mod-punk of his first band the Jam or the pop leanings of the Style Council. But rather than reliving past glory, Weller spent the last year recording 22 Dreams, the most expansive and experimental album of his career. “I was conscious when I walked into the studio that I wanted to do something different. I didn’t want to make As Is Now Part 2,” Weller tells Rock Daily. “There was this mentality where it was like, ‘Let’s try anything that comes into your mind.’” Weller sequestered himself in his country studio, recruited some famous Britpop friends like Oasis‘ Noel Gallagher and Blur’s Graham Coxon and spent hours improvising with his band. The result was 22 Dreams, a genre-leapin...